Today, November 14th the Church celebrates All Carmelite Saints. As a Lay Carmelite I considered all those saintly men and women in Carmel my family and my friends. They are mentors in my journey, intercessors, soul friends. I feel their presence in my daily life. I pray to them. I read their writings and learn so much about this great gift of spirituality which is Carmel and contains treasures of everlasting rivers of fresh and living water that satisfy our souls. I’m eternally grateful for their love, for their exemplary lives and for their intercessions not only to our Carmelite family but to the whole world.

Beloved Saints of Carmel, pray for us!

❤

To Love

My Sisters, I’m from Bethany
Where I met the Lord.
Sister Agnes, who had followed me,
Felt the melting of the heart.
Yes, it was truly ineffable
To prepare a feast for Him,
While that adorable Master
We offered a divine meal.
“It was the banquet of love”
Where Jesus gives himself,
Because his good always prevails
The soul who seeks it and who loves it:
In the measure of his faith
She reaches the Sovereign King.

To love, for a Carmelite,
Is to surrender like Jesus
A true love never hesitates,
It wishes to give always more and more.
Let us be a faithful image
Of our Bridegroom sacrifices,
Retrace in us the model
Of this divine Crucified One.
Looking at him night and day
Let’s climb the austere mountain,
It is the home of Love,
His palace and his sanctuary.
In this mysterious temple
Sacrifice ourselves with a happy heart.

To love is to forget oneself
Like the Angel of Lisieux
To become lost in the one we love
And be consumed in his fires.
Sister Thérèse knew how to understand
In its great simplicity
This call so strong and so tender “Stay in my charity”
“I love both the night and the day”
Such was the divine song
From the victim of love To Jesus,
his mystic Bridegroom.
“My vocation is love…”
“I love both night and day.”

To love is,
like Magdalene
Never to leave the Lord
But to stand in full peace
At the feet of this divine Saviour.
She listened in silence “The word He told him.”
Better to savour his presence
Oh, everything in her was silent.
His soul finally took hold
Jesus the One Necessary.
Before this divine Being
All the earth vanished.
Buried in his love
She surrendered without return.

To love is to be apostolic
Zealous for the honour of the living God
It is truly the ancient heritage
That the great seer left us.
Collected by St. Thérèse
Who gave it to us in turn.
Carmel became the furnace,
The home of divine Love.
Our saints had understood it so well…
As they were enflaming souls!
All in them gave Jesus Christ
By radiating his bright flames.
My Sisters, let’s be real Apostles of Charity.

To love is to imitate Mary
Exalting in God’s greatness
While her soul delighted
Sang her song to the Lord.
Your centre, o faithful Virgin,
Was the annihilation,
For Jesus, everlasting splendour,
Hides in abasement.
It’s always through humility
May your soul magnify him.
The Apostle in his infirmity Cried out,
“I boast In the strength of the Redeemer
Living and triumphant in my heart.”  

To love is to testify
To our Christ, to our King;
And give our life as a pledge
To better affirm our faith.
Like our sixteen blessed,
May we shed our blood
Singing in our happy souls
A hymn all grateful.
Truth, speaking one day
Says this supreme word:
“The greatest proof of love
Is to die for the One we love.”
O my Sisters,
“let us die every day”
To make Him love for love.

“To the praise of his glory”
Let us sacrifice ourselves always
Because to win the victory
God claims our help.
Let us imitate our revered mothers
In their zeal and fervor.
We will come out of our miseries
And our King will be victorious.
We will redouble fidelity
For this plan to be realized.
By our generosity
We will help the Holy Church
And we will see love reigning,
A foretaste of the divine abode.

~Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Poetry

“What numbers of saints we have in heaven who have worn this habit of ours!
We must have the holy audacity to aspire, with God’s help, to be like them.
The struggle will not last long, but the outcome will be eternal.”
~ St. Teresa of Avila

A Blessed Feast Day of All Carmelite Saints!
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